Camomile Cottage B & B and Chobbs Barn Luxury Self Catering Suffolk Norfolk Border
So here it is as promised!
150g sultanas
100g natural coloured glace cherries, halved
150g dried pears, chopped
100ml white rum
250g marzipan
50g ground almonds
zest of 1 lemon
175g plain flour
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp orange flower water or orange extract
20cm spring form cake tin, buttered and lined bottom and sides, so that the parchment comes a good 10cm above the rim
the night before, mix sultanas, glace cherries and dried pears in a large bowl, cover with the rum. Dice the marzipan and put it in the freezer. Leave both to soak and freeze overnight.
next day, preheat oven to 140/gas 1. Beat together almonds, lemon zest, sugar, flour, butter and eggs. Add drained fruit, orange flower water and frozen marzipan. Put the mixture into the tin, levelling the surface, and making a slight indent in the middle to get an even surface when cooked.
bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, or until skewer comes out clean. Do not overcook, as it will continue to cook in its own heat for a bit. But don't worry - there's enough dried fruit and marzipan to stop anyone complaining that the cake is dry.
allow to cool in the tin, rewrap in parchment and foil to store for about a week, I always feed it with a little or a lot more rum!
If you have difficulty finding dried pears you could use dried apples instead,the soft kind not crispy! I haven't been able to find them for ages and had to dry my own, such a palaver, I mentioned this to my lovely guest Tricia and she went out on a mission today to find some, she came home with a lovely big bag for me..........yippee no more drying my own for the next few cakes!